venturebrothersfandomcom-20200216-history
Powerless in the Face of Death
Powerless in the Face of Death is the first episode in the second season of The Venture Bros. Storyline Seemingly due to Hank and Dean's deaths, a distraught Dr. Venture flees from the Venture compound to "find himself." A rapid succession of scenes show him at a Tibetan monastery, prowling through a tropical jungle, and lounging in an opium den; at each of these locations, Venture narrowly escapes detection by Brock. In between these scenes are views of The Monarch looking out his prison window and reaching out for a butterfly (which he promptly eats), Dr. Girlfriend looking ill-at-ease with The Phantom Limb, henchmen 21 and 24 destroying the Cocoon headquarters, and Master Billy Quizboy and Dr. White fitting Jonas Jr. with a bionic arm similar to the one Billy sports (Jonas Jr. has grown his hair longer, wears a jumpsuit, and generally looks much better than when last seen in "Return to Spider-Skull Island"). Brock finally catches Venture at a rave and tells him to come home... because "the bills are piling up." When Venture refuses, Brock tranquilizes him and carries him back to the compound. Jonas Jr. seems to have lost his fratricidal tendencies and seems quite friendly towards his still-annoyed brother. While "Rusty" was gone, Jonas earned two doctorates and completed all but two of his brother's government contracts. As Thaddeus fails repeatedly to brush him off in anger, Jonas Jr. leaves for Spider-Skull Island with two attractive women to enjoy a little 'quality time'. In an increasingly bad mood, Venture sets out to investigate one of the remaining projects, a teleporter. He is shocked to discover one of his old labs has been reopened and manned by Hector (who, despite a lack of recognition from Thaddeus, had accompanied him and his father on many adventures as a young Mexican boy in an apparent parody of Jonny Quest's sidekick Hadji) and Swifty, a former boxer described by Hector as "a little punchy." Venture fails to remember either of them after a brief effort and fires them both. Rusty begins to look over the teleporter, which Jonas Jr. had described as half-finished, and proclaims it done. He attempts to turn off the flashing control panel and disappears in a flash of light. The Monarch employs a tiny inmate to paint a microdot containing instructions to his minions about his planned escape. He affixes the microdot onto a monarch butterfly and releases it; moments later, the insect is intercepted by a craft that resembles a hawk. While Brock works on his Dodge Charger, Dr. Orpheus dramatically bemoans his perceived responsibility in the deaths of Hank and Dean. Brock dismisses his concerns offhandedly, leading Orpheus to wonder why he and Venture have been taking the losses so well. Walking through the compound, Brock notices Venture's lower half protruding from a television set, then finds Venture's head and left side stuck in a wall in the lab. Venture, who seems to be fine other than the odd placement of body parts, tell Brock that he has no idea where his right side is, except that he can feel something "gooey." Orpheus, still tormented by guilt, decides to use his necromancy skills to resurrect the boys. Although he searches Hell and other astral locations, he can not find their souls; without souls, their bodies would simply become mindless zombies. As he explains the rituals to an appalled Triana, he pauses to answer the door. Standing on his doorstep are hairless, skinless, half-formed versions of Hank and Dean, drooling and mumbling about milkshakes. In prison, the Monarch attempts to organize his fellow inmates for the breakout. "Tigeriffic" (most likely patterned Tygra, one of the Thundercats) can not tear the gates open, however, since his strength comes from his suit; "Mister Monday" seems more concerned with occurrences of his favorite day than the escape; and "White Noise" refuses to participate if the scheme involves other races (he will not taint his 'white blood' despite being made of static). King Gorilla agrees to provide the required muscle, and the plan seems ready to go for the most part. Shortly afterwards, however, Phantom Limb visits King Gorilla. Limb attempts to coerce Gorilla into betraying The Monarch, but he refuses to respond to threats; knowing his weakness, however, Limb presents Gorilla with a cake. "What is that, marzipan?" the intrigued Gorilla asks. "Even better... tarzipan," Limb replies smugly. In a support group for recovering henchmen, the former Number 21 misinterprets the counselor's urgings as inspiration to become a supervillain. During a break, 24 approaches him and they laugh about how strange they look without their costumes (24 describing 21 as resembling Kevin Smith without facial hair, and 21 saying that 24 looks like Jerry Seinfeld with a unibrow). They speculate on The Monarch's condition and whether he will resurface soon. To Brock and Venture's bemusement, Orpheus continues to agonize over the boys' deaths. Not only has he has been unable to locate their souls, but he is now convinced that he has turned them into zombies. He notices a talisman that indicates their souls are somewhere within the lab, tracing them to a computer. At Brock's urging, Thaddeus finally informs the necromancer that he is currently preparing clones to replace Hank and Dean. In fact, he continues, this is far from the first time "the boys" have met accidental deaths -- Brock confirms that "this makes fourteen." The "zombies" Orpheus saw were immature clones accidentally released during the power surge when Venture activated the teleporter. The cloning equipment contains basic knowledge and personal memories that are implanted into the clones as they mature. Due to the kids' clumsy and somewhat unlucky natures, their father always keeps a few clones ready in case of emergency. When the guards call for "lights out" in prison that night, The Monarch makes his play. Leaping from his cell in a costume formed from bent license plates, he waits for his cohorts to leap into action... but nothing happens. As the guards drag him away, he curses his fellow inmates for betraying him. Even King Gorilla is ashamed to meet his eyes, as The Monarch screams that he was trying to win Dr. Girlfriend back. Suddenly, the guards' heads are bashed together -- King Gorilla was moved by the idea of The Monarch fighting for true love. He rips the toilet from his cell and crams The Monarch into the sewage pipe, telling him that it empties out a mile away. Before bidding him goodbye, King Gorilla tells The Monarch to never let his true love go, and then kisses him passionately on the lips. The final scene after the credits shows The Monarch, covered in filth, splashing into a small pond from a pipe. As he rejoices in his freedom, he takes the hand that is extended before him... which is attached to Dr. Venture's disembodied right side. Quotes *'Dr. Orpheus' (on how he saw the boys): Saw them!? I made them a fucking MILKSHAKE! *'Brock' (asked to put the immature clones back into their "incubators"): I hate touching them, they feel like giant Stretch Armstrongs! *'Dr. Venture': You have a clumsy kid, you put a helmet on him. You have death-prone children, you keep a few clones in the lab. *'Dr. Orpheus' (talking to Triana about raising the dead): Don't worry pumpkin, daddy does this all the time! Evel Knievel, David Blaine, both of them were daddy's clients. Even Ronald Reagan, until he bounced a check. *'Dr. Orpheus': I'm a necromancer! Do you know what that means? Brock: You have sex with dead people? Dr. Orpheus: 'phile! Necro'phile'! Trivia *Before this episode aired, fan sites and discussion boards were rampant with speculation on how (or even if) Hank and Dean would return to the show. Several of the most dominant themes were addressed in the show, including cloning, resurrection by Dr. Orpheus, and Dr. Venture and Jonas Jr. becoming the "new" Venture Brothers (some of the more absurd guesses included use of the "Grover Cleveland Time Machine" briefly referenced in the episode "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean" or the boys turning into vampires). *An eighth of the budget of this episode was spent on licensing for the song Everybody's Free by Aquagen featuring Rozalla, which played over the opening montage. *The opening credits for this episode featured a gawky Dr. Venture and a diaper-clad Jonas Jr. replacing Hank and Dean. Dr. Orpheus and H.E.L.P.eR. were listed for the first time as supporting characters. *Little Joesepth made his second appereance in the entire series as The Monarch's cellmate. *Hector and Swifty are apparent nods to the roles of Hadji and Race Bannon in Jonny Quest. *Ways the boys have died, as seen in flashback: #Sucked into the X-1's engine turbines #Devoured by a giant spider breaking through the floor of their bedroom #While attempting to smoke, Dean blinded Hank with a cigarette; Hank stumbled backwards and caused an explosion in the hangar #Shooting apples off of each others' heads with bows and arrows á la William Tell #Decapitated by a clothesline while riding their hover-bikes #Ripped apart by a were-Thaddeus (a werewolf Dr. Venture) #Hank jumps off the roof of the compound while wearing a Batman costume #Crushed by a robot crashing through their bedroom #Dean trips while running with scissors #Satellite falling on Hank #Gas leak (the silent killer) #Falling into a pit of spikes #Dr. Venture setting their room on fire (the boys are not seen, but they are trapped inside their beds) #The accidental drive-by shooting from "Return to Spider-Skull Island" (not depicted in flashback sequence) :(Note: Assuming that they are only cloned in pairs, this would leave at least one of their deaths open to speculation, since there are three scenes in which only one (either Hank or Dean) died.) *Note that since Jonas Jr. "earned two doctorates" while Thaddeus was gone, he may be the only one qualified to be called "Dr. Venture;" in the episode "The Incredible Mr. Brisby," Roy Brisby claimed that Thaddeus had never finished school and was therefore not an actual doctor. (Thaddeus never confirmed nor denied the accusation.) Category:The Venture Bros. episodes